


It's Mutual

by facetiouspenguin



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Ace/Aro Characters, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Gen, May0 - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-03
Updated: 2017-01-03
Packaged: 2018-09-14 10:56:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9178480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/facetiouspenguin/pseuds/facetiouspenguin
Summary: this was a drabble fic I did for the bl gift exchange on tumblr for sleepyheadbatcat and I thought I'd share it hereMaya and Zer0 go out and Have a Good Time™





	

Speeding into the appropriately named desert sands, Zer0, with Maya on the turret, drove their technical through The Dust, kicking up a trail behind them. Soon enough, they had attracted the attention of the local bandits, three technicals coming up behind them with marauders and psychos clinging to their steel frames from every angle. Bullets started being fired, ricocheting off of their vehicle, the sharp metal on metal noise ringing in their ears.

The Siren was defending from the turret, but was unsatisfied with her progress -- it seemed every car she eliminated was replaced with another. How many bandits could Pandora possibly spit out at them? Her blue-painted lips pulled back in a frown of concentration. “Zer0, keep it steady, I’m going to try something.” Maya called out to him over the roaring sounds of the engine as she began to stand up from her seat. Keeping her balance with her legs spread, she gripped the railing around her with one hand as she readied herself.

“Flowing through the sand, I drive flawlessly.” Zer0 quipped with a teasing tone, knowing he could do as she asked without much issue. “Try not to fall off.” He added with a glance and just a hint of concern, finishing his haiku.

She chuckled at Zer0, feeling energy warming through her tattoos, eyes darting between the cars, looking for an opening. The bandits spotted her facing them, obviously getting excited at the prospect of an easy target, converging together to get better aim. Maya smirked at their idiocy, their proximity to each other exactly what she needed in order to release the built up energy in her palm and unleash one of her most powerful phaselocks. It swallowed one of the cars, and half of the other two, crushing them in its purple vortex as her enemies squealed.

A giddy feeling welled up inside her at the immense power, but she knew when she had to let go. As it started slipping from her palm, Maya released it, laughing breathlessly as the cars flipped helplessly through the air, sending its passengers in a multitude of directions. “That’s what you get when you mess with a Siren!! Better luck next time, bitches!” She taunted before plopping back in her seat, a great big sigh of satisfaction leaving her.

A red, glowing emoticon greeted her from Zer0, but only just long enough that she was unsure if he had been smiling. “Are you happy now?”

“For now,” she replied curtly, almost like she hadn’t just been hollering with a big cheesing grin on her face just moments before. Despite this, the barest hints of a smile tugged at her lips as she regarded her partner fondly. He was an odd member of their team -- not any odder than the rest of the Vault Hunters, honestly -- but they had an unspoken, mutual understanding of each other that Maya was more than happy to be a part of.

“Your bloodlust is concerning -- also, endearing.” Zer0 chuckled, cementing his affection with a heart emote.

Her enthusiasm in general was more than just endearing to him -- charming, enchanting. Adorable. Though he was smart enough to keep those remarks to himself, considering what had happened to Axton the one time he had tried calling Maya a “cutiepie.” The commando’s compliments were now (mostly) reserved for his turret.

On the far end of the Dust lay a line of cliffs, where they slowed down to park. It was perfect cover for them to exit the technical, and protect their ride back to Ellie’s fast travel station. They made their way over to the rocky cliff face, and Maya tilted her head back and whistled at how high it towered over them. The glaring hot sun made it difficult to look up for long, her eyes cast back down and over to Zer0 -- he was still gazing upwards, a determination in his stance that the Siren had seen many times before. Rock climbing was only the tip of the iceberg, as no challenge would ever be intimidating enough for the assassin; this was evident enough in the fact that he was on Pandora, a planet infested with bandits, alien warriors, and every deadly weapon known to the universe.

The assassin’s helmet projected a red winking smile emoticon at his companion before he strode up to the rocky wall, quickly finding handholds and hoisting himself upwards. His movements were precise and fluid, with barely a misstep. Maya stood and watched for a moment, his tall, lanky, black-suited form scuttling up the cliff looking a lot like a giant spider more than amusing to her. However, she needed to get started, pulling on a pair of gloves before making her own ascent up the cliff.  
By the time she made it to the top, Zer0 was already up there waiting for her, crouching and holding a hand out to her. The Siren gratefully took it, pulling herself up to the ledge next to him and dusting herself off. She stood back from the edge and gazed over their surroundings -- the sand and rock expanded over the horizon, the barest peaks of rocky mountains in the distance, with bandits and their shacks dotting the entire landscape. The sun was low in the sky, casting long, harsh shadows over it all, and tinting the sky with oranges and pinks.

“Wow, I could almost forget all the nastiness on Pandora with a view like this.” Maya responded in awe, idly reaching for her storage deck, a sniper rifle digitally materializing into her arms. Zer0 made a small noise of agreement, already settling in with his own sniper rifle and lining his eye with the scope, scanning the land below them. “Straight to business, huh?” She teased, settling next to him with her own rifle.

“The target awaits, our prey stalks the southern plains -- stealing Ellie’s… junk.” The end of his haiku made her snort, as it was Ellie’s exact phrasing on why she was sending them on this mission. That woman had an interesting choice of words.

Zer0 spotted one of their targets, focusing intently on his aim as the crosshairs lined up with the bandit’s head. Just as he was about to pull the trigger, he heard the crack of gunshot in his ear, and the head he had in his sights was gone. He looked over to see Maya with her rifle, looking entirely too pleased that she had gotten the headshot before he did.

When the assassin’s helmet projected an angry frown emoticon, the Siren snickered quietly. “Hey, you invited me up here to your sniper’s nest. You’ll just have to be faster than that.” She tallied her kill in the dirt next to her, glancing at him with a fire in her eyes that Zer0 could easily translate.

“Challenge accepted. This is my own game, Maya, you will not beat me.” With that, he quickly turned back to his gun and pulled the trigger, a splash of red appearing in the distance. A zero appeared over the surface of his helmet, and he marked the dirt at his side, laughing darkly.

And so, for the next couple of hours, the two of them, in amicable silence only broken by gunfire and bandit screams, continued their little game, counting their kills as the number of bandits began to dwindle. Soon, they were down to the last bandit, a psycho who was running around and flailing his arms at the sight of all his dead compatriots, knowing that he was next. The marks in the dust were close, but Zer0 was in the lead by one point. Their scopes were trained on the last bandit, but his zig-zagging made it more difficult to aim accurately. Maya decided to go on her gut with this one, squeezing the trigger and --

Boom.

She scratched the last mark into the dust, laughing at their numbers. “So it goes…” She remarked as she stood up, raising her arms and stretching. “Good game, Z. Looks like we’re evenly matched.”

They sent a quick ECHO message to Ellie letting her know the job was done, the two of them deciding to sit with their legs dangling over the cliff, watching as the sun set over the horizon. They simply sat there together, admiring their handiwork. It wasn’t long before they were leaning on each other, enjoying the rest of their day out peacefully.

There was a mutual understanding between the two of them -- and it was one that didn’t need words.


End file.
